Chapter One: Safe Harbor

"Are we there yet?"

A sigh went up from the whole party and Barret glared at Yuffie. "If you start askin' that, I'm gonna send you into the desert to make sure there's no quicker way to get to Gold Saucer." He turned away as Yuffie made a face at him. "I know Corel needs money an' all, but shit, who builds a cable car from the Planet's biggest casino to the middle of nowhere?"

Red XIII shrugged as he moved through the tall grass of the plains. "That's why it's there – Dio could get away with paying North Corel less than if he'd built it somewhere busier, closer to Costa del Sol."

"Oh no, don't y'all start talkin' economics again," said Cid. "Soured me on the whole subject with that crackpot scheme of runnin' materia across the continent."

"'Crackpot?'" Yuffie grew indignant, more so than usual. "I'll have you know there's a huge price differential between basic magic materia in Rocket Town and Costa del Sol…"

Cloud held up his hand to get the group's attention. "We're not going to make it to North Corel before sundown. We should probably look for a place to camp out for the night."

"Are you sure we can't make it, Cloud?" He looked at Aeris and concern was in her eyes as well as her voice. "We don't know how far ahead of us Sephiroth is, and it's not entirely safe sleeping outside."

"A good reason to find shelter before it gets much darker," said Vincent. As he spoke, a drop of rain hit his shoulder and ran down the gauntlet on his arm. Another drop made a pinging sound as it fell straight onto the metal.

"Yeah, that does it," said Tifa as she glanced over at the source of the noise. Vincent raised his eyes from the trickle of water on his arm to Tifa's face as she turned away. "Let's head for the forest over there and see if we can't find somewhere to hole up."

"I don't know… looks kind of ominous to me." Cait Sith seemed to shiver a little atop his moogle, which carried the group's traveling supplies in a large crate.

"You've got a megaphone, scare the monsters away." Tifa and the rest of the party followed Cloud as he heeded her advice and headed toward the trees.

The rain picked up and the scattered drops became a light shower. The group's banter faded with the light as the trees and clouds above blocked out the setting sun. Soon the only sounds were the crunching of leaves on the forest floor and the faint hiss of the rain.

Crack! A flash lit the forest as lightning struck somewhere nearby. Yuffie jumped and Aeris, walking next to Cloud, drew closer to him. Cloud could feel the rain grow heavier on his hair and shoulders. Cid swore softly as his cigarette went out.

"Hey, we gotta find somewhere quick or we're gonna be wetter than…" Cid trailed off as Tifa and Aeris turned, their eyebrows raised slightly, before he finished, "…the, uh, hull of a submarine!"

"Up there!" Cait Sith pointed to a dim light ahead of them. They all started to jog through what was now a full-fledged downpour. As they got closer, Cloud could see that the light was coming from what looked like a cave entrance. It glowed brightly against the imposing darkness of the mountain range above.

A slight incline led to the mouth of the cave, and the party quickly ran up, stopping to rest just inside. Those with extra layers to take off did so, as the sudden lack of falling rain made everyone realize how soaked they were. Barret tilted his gun arm in an attempt to get the water away from the cartridges inside. "Damnit, we better not be fightin' anytime soon…"

Tifa shook her hair and leaned back on the rock wall next to one of two tunnels that went deeper into the cave, before raising her head to look around. Shivering slightly, she folded her arms across her chest. "Where are we? How is it lit?"

"Relax, it's probably an ol' coal mine," said Barret. He gestured toward two tunnels before them, both of which emanated light. "Bet they started using Mako bulbs before they closed down, an' never bothered to turn 'em off. Usin' Shinra's power even as it put 'em outta business…" Barret pounded the wall of the cave in brief flash of anger and immediately regretted it.

There was a faint noise, and a few pebbles slipped out from a support beam nearby. Red's tail twitched anxiously. "Barret, the miners thoroughly reinforced their mine shafts, right…?" Before Barret could answer, Cait Sith's moogle automaton lumbered in and dropped the group's large box of supplies on the cave floor with a thud. There was another rumble, much louder this time, and the top of the tunnel above Tifa started to shake.

"Look out!" warned Aeris. Vincent dove forward in a dark blur and tackled Tifa, pushing her down the tunnel and out of the way of a large rock that fell where she had stood. Everyone watched helplessly as more stones slid down after the first big one and created a pile that blocked the path. As the shaking subsided, Cloud and Cid moved forward to try and lift the rocks, but Barret grabbed their shoulders and held them back.

"Look at those things, man! Trust me, you can't move 'em, an' if you try, you're riskin' another cave-in. Damn, kicked up coal dust, too." Cloud shook loose and got as close as he dared as a cloud of earth and glittering dust rose from the pile of rocks.

"Tifa! Vincent! Are you alright?"

We're okay. Tifa tried to tell Cloud, but wasn't able to get the words out. She was coughing and couldn't stop. Dark dust kicked up by the falling rocks hung in the air, looking like shiny smoke in the cold Mako light. Vincent slowly lifted himself off her, grunting slightly and Tifa sat up, coughed once more and tried speaking again. She was barely able to make out Cloud's words through the stone and she hoped he could hear her call to him.

"We're okay, Cloud!" She took a breath and inhaled more of the dust, succumbing to another coughing fit. Vincent took off his bandana and offered it to Tifa, his face unreadable as he looked at her. She nodded in thanks and clutched the fabric over her face, using it as a filter.

They heard Aeris. "Can you see anything? We can try to go deeper and meet up with you."

Vincent looked away from the pile of dirt and stone cutting them off. The tunnel extended further into the mountain, appearing to be lit at least to the point where it curved off to the left and out of view. His high collar and altered physique prevented the coal dust from having much effect on him, and he turned back to reply to Aeris. "Yes – the tunnel's lit and there may be a way out. Tifa's inhaled a large amount of what was kicked up by the collapse, but she should recover if we move away from here."

Barret's voice was the next to come through. "Okay, but careful! You got damn lucky. When the storm lets up, we can come back with some guys an' equipment from North Corel an' dig you out – make sure you don't get squashed for real before then."

Vincent helped Tifa to her feet and she leaned against him, her breaths coming a bit easier as they moved deeper into the mine.